# Penpot

**Source:** https://geo.sig.ai/brands/penpot  
**Vertical:** Design & Creative Tools  
**Subcategory:** UI/UX Design & Prototyping  
**Tier:** Challenger  
**Website:** penpot.app  
**Last Updated:** 2026-04-14

## Summary

First open-source design and prototyping platform. Built on SVG/CSS standards. Created by Kaleidos (Madrid, 2011). Raised ~$10.6M. 500K+ users. Private.

## Company Overview

Penpot is the first open-source design and prototyping platform for cross-domain product teams, created by Kaleidos Open Source, a Madrid-based company founded in 2011. Unlike proprietary tools such as Figma and Sketch, Penpot is built on open web standards including SVG, CSS, HTML, and JSON, making designs natively accessible to developers. The platform offers design, interactive prototyping, design systems at scale, and was the first design tool to integrate native design tokens.

Penpot operates as a free, web-based tool that can also be self-hosted, competing directly with Figma. Its open-source model appeals to organizations prioritizing vendor independence, data sovereignty, and customization. The Penpot 2.0 release introduced CSS Grid Layout, a complete UI redesign, and a new Components system. A plugin API launched in late 2025.

Kaleidos has raised approximately $10.6 million, including an $8M Series A in 2022 led by Decibel. Signups surged 5,600% when Adobe announced its $20B Figma acquisition. With over 500,000 active users and 35,000+ GitHub stars, Penpot continues to gain traction as the leading open-source alternative to Figma.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What is Penpot?
Penpot is the first open-source design and prototyping platform built for cross-domain teams, running in the browser or self-hosted, built on open web standards (SVG, CSS, HTML).

### Is Penpot really free?
Yes. Penpot is completely free and open-source under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 with no usage limits.

### Who created Penpot?
Penpot was created by Kaleidos Open Source, founded in 2011 in Madrid, Spain. The company has raised approximately $10.6M in funding.

### How does Penpot compare to Figma?
Penpot is open-source and free while Figma is proprietary SaaS. Penpot uses native CSS Grid Layout and SVG standards for developer-friendly output and offers data sovereignty.

### What was new in Penpot 2.0?
Penpot 2.0 introduced CSS Grid Layout (an industry first), a redesigned UI, a new Components system, native design tokens, and significant performance improvements.

### What makes Penpot different from Figma?
Penpot is the first fully open-source design and prototyping tool, using open web standards (SVG, CSS) for its design language rather than proprietary formats. Unlike Figma, Penpot can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure, making it appealing to organizations with data privacy requirements or those wanting to avoid vendor lock-in.

### What design capabilities does Penpot offer?
Penpot provides vector design tools, component libraries, auto-layout, interactive prototyping, design tokens, and developer handoff with CSS property inspection—covering the core design workflow from wireframing to high-fidelity prototype and developer handoff.

### What is Penpot's business model and who funds it?
Penpot is open-source (MPL-2.0) and free to self-host. Kaleidos, the company behind Penpot, offers Penpot Cloud as a managed SaaS with team collaboration features for organizations that prefer not to host their own instance. Kaleidos has raised approximately $8 million to fund Penpot's development.

## Tags

productivity, saas, collaboration, b2b

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*Data from geo.sig.ai Brand Intelligence Database. Updated 2026-04-14.*